Fox News contributor Tim Graham argues in a new opinion column that television networks gave Democratic winners of the midterm elections a warm and largely uncritical welcome. Graham says the coverage amounted to a "tidal wave of praise," and he uses several recent segments to make the case that the networks were more interested in celebrating the new officeholders than in questioning them.
The column opens with an ABC interview in which George Stephanopoulos spoke with Texas Sen.-elect James Talarico, a Democrat. Talarico spoke about what he called the "politics of love" and rejected political division, a message Graham presents as an example of the friendly tone he sees across the networks. Graham also cites a CBS Mornings segment in which hosts praised Kansas Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton, a Methodist pastor. According to Graham, co-host Gayle King and co-host Nate Burleson responded enthusiastically, while Tony Dokoupil, filling in for co-host Gayle King's colleague Norah O'Donnell in the account Graham gives, questioned Hamilton's pledge to follow the Golden Rule. Graham treats that moment as a rare exception to the broader pattern.
Graham devotes considerable space to Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed, who is described in coverage as the first Muslim elected to the Senate. He writes that ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS framed Republican criticism of El-Sayed's faith as Islamophobic. Graham also points to a CBS controversy over social media posts from El-Sayed that were deleted, including posts related to the September 11 attacks, and argues that the networks gave that episode less scrutiny than similar material would have received from a Republican candidate. He further criticizes PBS for leaving Florida Gov. Byron Donalds, a Republican who won his race, off a list of election "firsts," a choice Graham presents as evidence of selective framing.
The column also examines NPR's interview with podcaster Hasan Piker, who described the election as a rebuke of President Donald Trump. Graham contrasts that framing with the coverage of other results. He highlights the Democratic upset in a Texas district that Trump had targeted, which the networks treated as a major shock, and notes that Texas is among the places where, as one outlet put it, the election changed the political landscape. Graham raises a business angle as well, asking whether the shift could affect the expansion plans of the Texas convenience-store chain Buc-ee's. He cites reporting that the company's chief executive once said he did not want stores in blue states, and says at least five more Buc-ee's locations have since opened there. The exact details of that reporting are not independently confirmed in the notes available for this article.
Graham also points to the South Carolina Senate race, where Republican Sen. Darline Graham lost in a result that surprised many observers. According to a New York Times account, the defeat has fractured the Republican Party over who should bear the blame. Trump had campaigned for Darline Graham in Rock Hill in the days before the vote.
Graham's piece is an opinion column, and its central claim about network bias is contested. The reporting available for this article does not establish whether the networks' framing reflected bias or accurate reporting on newsworthy firsts and reactions. The column offers Graham's reading of the coverage, and the segments he cites can be weighed alongside his interpretation.